The Great Attachment Debate

How important is early experience?

FEATURES

The Attuned TherapistBy Mary Sykes Wylie and Lynn Turner In recent years, attachment theory, with its emphasis on early bonding, connection and relationship, has exerted as much influence over the field of psychotherapy as any other perspective. Why then do some critics believe that it's sending therapists off on the wrong track?

Bringing Up Baby By Jerome Kagan While therapists may consider some intuitively appealing ideas about human development—like attachment theory—beyond dispute, the researcher's job is to challenge unproven explanations shaped more by our biases and preconceptions than by hard evidence.

The Verdict Is In By Alan Sroufe and Daniel Siegel Fifty years of research has confirmed that the emotional quality of our earliest attachment relationships is central to our well-being as adults.

The Nightgown By Bruce Jay Friedman A determined patient searches for therapeutic insight from an unlikely source.